Dyer News

International maritime law specialist Hill Dickinson announced the death of Patrick Hawkins, head of its office in Greece.Hawkins died in the hospital on August 20, having suffered a heart attack in early July. His funeral took place in Athens on Monday.Announcing his death, David Wareing and Tony Goldsmith, heads of Hill Dickinson’s Marine and Trade Group, said, “It is with enormous sadness that we have to inform you of the passing of our much loved colleague Patrick Hawkins.

Inland Dredging Company helps keep commerce flowing on America’s inland waterway system.Dyersburg, Tenn. based Inland Dredging Company completed dredging projects spanning eight states and across four U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Districts. Beginning in July and finishing in December (2019), Inland Dredging crews dredged ports and harbors along the Mighty Mississippi River, Ouachita River, Red River, Black Warrior River, Atchafalaya River, Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway, and the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway from Apalachicola to Morgan City.Richard Jackson…

The remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy brought tornadoes and flooding to the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday and its heavy rains will drench much of the eastern United States in coming days, forecasters said. Flooding and road closures stretched from east Texas into northwestern Florida after Cindy made landfall early on Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas border and weakened to a tropical depression, the National Weather Service said. Cindy is expected to dump 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) of rain as it heads north and east into the Ohio Valley and the Appalachian Mountains through Saturday, said Brian Hurley, a weather service meteorologist. Totals could reach 9 inches (22.5 cm) in some areas. "We're looking at quite a bit of rain. That's going to be the main threat," he said.

Hy-Dynamix has launched a new mobile container weighing solution called Hy-Weigh, which gives digital read outs within 10 minutes at point of packing. The system can weigh containers up to 35 metric tons and uses four corner hydraulic elevation jacks, raising the container in situ and displaying the weight in increments of 50 kilograms via a digital readout. Designed by engineers at Hy-Dynamix parent company Dyer Engineering, which has a 40-year pedigree in the sector, Hy-Weigh is self-contained on its own specially designed pallet…

ASV Ltd in association with Planet Ocean Ltd, have received funding from the GROW:OffshoreWind initiative to investigate how the use of Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) could reduce the costs of offshore wind farm support. The project will look at using ASVs to reduce the cost of tasks related to the construction, operation and maintenance (O&M) of offshore wind farms. Together ASV and Planet Ocean will look at scour monitoring, cable position tracking, wave and meteorological monitoring, current profile monitoring and underwater noise monitoring. ASV will be presenting two of their ASVs, the C-Enduro and C-Worker whilst Planet Ocean who specialise in the provision of marine instruments will look at mission and sensor options.

By extracting a $13 million penalty and imposing tough restrictions on future oil trading by Arcadia and others, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) this week sent a powerful signal that laws against market manipulation still have teeth. The case challenges a now famous view expressed in 1991 by commodities lawyer Jerry Markham that manipulation of commodity futures prices had become an unprosecutable crime. "Under present law the crime of manipulation is virtually unprosecutable, and remedies for those injured by price manipulation are difficult to obtain," Markham wrote in an article published in the Yale Journal of Regulation.

At a presentation earlier today the Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families presented a $10,000 gift to Coast Guard Station Fort Pierce, Fort Pierce, Florida. The funds will be used to provide kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, and camping and fishing gear for the 45 active duty members and 15 reservists, and their families based at this Coast Guard station. Foundation staff member Brian Overcast and Foundation board member VADM Sally Brice-O’Hara, USCG (Ret.) thanked Dyer Chevrolet and the Dyer family, who made the gift possible through a donation to the Coast Guard Foundation. Mr.

Reuters - Costa Rica will ask the International Court of Justice to settle a decade-old maritime border dispute with Nicaragua related to potential oil concessions, President Laura Chinchilla said on Monday. Costa Rica plans to file a complaint with the court at The Hague on Tuesday in which it will ask the court to determine its borders with Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, she said in a statement. The dispute dates back to 2002 when Nicaragua published maps detailing oil concessions, some of which were in waters claimed by Costa Rica. Nicaragua published the maps of the disputed concessions again in 2013, reviving the issue. The Central American countries already have an open dispute at The Hague related to an area of wetlands known as Isla Portillos.

No matter what you ship, chances are it needs some kind of protection. Even tough materials such as steel and concrete can be susceptible to chipping, breaking or corrosion. For sensitive electronics, delicate glassware, perishable foods and other specialized needs, having the right protection can make the difference between sending your customer a work of art and shipping a box of shards. Get an idea of how best to pack your products with an overview of the best packing materials and shipping containers to suit your needs.

J.F. Lehman & Company completed the sale of Atlantic Marine Holding Company to a subsidiary of BAE Systems, Inc. Atlantic Marine is a provider of vessel maintenance, repair, overhaul and conversion (“MROC”) as well as marine fabrication services to government and commercial maritime customers. The company has operations in Mobile, AL, Jacksonville and Mayport, FL and Moss Point, MS. JFL has retained the company’s MROC operations in Boston, MA and Philadelphia, PA and a parcel of real estate in Mobile. The sale price was approximately $352 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments. An investment affiliate of JFL acquired the business in August 2006. Tig H. J.P.

In February, a new propulsion package contract was made between the Peruvian company COPEINCA (Corporacion Pesquera Inca S.A.) and MAN Diesel & Turbo, Frederikshavn. Three newbuildings powered by 6L21/31-VBS propulsion packages are to operate off the coast of Peru – primarily for anchovy fishing for the production of fish meal. When the ships’ annual quota has been utilized (takes between 20 days and three months depending on the capacity and vessel efficiency), the vessels convert to mackerel and horse mackerel fishing for the rest of the year.

The vessel repair statute (Section 466 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1466) requires the payment of a 50 percent ad valorem duty on the cost of foreign equipment purchased for, or expenses of repairs made to, U.S.-flag vessels in a foreign country. The purpose of the vessel repair statute is to protect U.S. shipyards and to discourage vessel operators from taking their vessels abroad for the purpose of obtaining less expensive foreign repairs. The U.S. Court of International Trade determined that "section 1466 expresses the legislative policy designed to provide maximum protection to American shipyards." Mount Washington Tanker Co. v. United States, 505 F. Supp. 209, 214 (1980), aff'd, 665 F.2d340 (C.C.P.A. 1981). The U.S.

Like so many areas of our economy since the terrorist attacks of September 11, the port and maritime areas of the United States are being scrutinized for vulnerability to terrorism. Catastrophic scenarios are all too easy to imagine, and the threats can come from so many directions. To illustrate the complexity of the maritime law enforcement challenge, the Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral James M. "Imagine for a moment the information requirements associated with a hypothetical 6,000 TEU flag-of-convenience container ship with a multi-national crew cobbled together by a hiring agent who works for an Algerian vessel operator who chartered the vessel from a Greek ship owner whose corporate offices are in the Cayman Islands.

Recent growth in ferry construction, particularly in the U.S., has been significant. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently reported that the U.S. marine transportation system annually transports 134 million passengers by ferry. Although the U.S. fleet represents a small percentage of the worldwide fleet, the U.S. fleet has recently experienced one of the largest and most rapid growth rates. This growth represents an increase both in sheer numbers as well as in the size of new vessels. The DOT recently reported that the U.S. currently has more fast-ferry shipbuilding under way than any other country, with an estimated 14 fast ferries under construction. With this increased demand and growth in newbuildings and transaction size, U.S.

The year 2000 has enjoyed special significance as a transition year bridging two centuries. Similarly it has significance with U.S. lawmakers for the Second Session of the 106th Congress. As the last year of the currently elected Congress, this year anticipates action on a series of pending legislative measures and yet to be introduced proposals affecting the maritime industry. Specifically tax-related legislation and maritime policy-related legislation could be addressed. There are several tax-related provisions that could be considered. One of the main bills emphasizing maritime tax issues has been introduced in the House by Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA) as H.R. 3225 and in the Senate by Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) as S. 1858. These bills include such measures as:A.

Maritime businesses are increasingly becoming the subject and target of federal criminal investigations. This is due, in part, to the increased emphasis on the enforcement of the criminal provisions of labor, customs and environmental regulatory provisions. A federal investigation of a business or corporation typically begins with federal agents serving a grand jury subpoena requiring the business to produce corporate records and documents. The subpoena requires that the business undertake a diligent and thorough search for the documents called for by the subpoena. Typically, the subpoena will also require that the business present a…

Ever since two enterprising reporters for the Baltimore Sun decided, in 1997, to take a closer look at ship scrapping, first at a Baltimore shipyard dismantling a Navy ship, and subsequently an in depth review of scrapping conditions in Alang, India, the light of public attention has been shining on this oldest of maritime practices. With this scrutiny, the world of scrapping ships will be forever changed — hopefully for the better. Following the end of the Cold War, the Navy's downsizing its fleet, and the requirement to replace tankers with more modern and environmentally safer ships, the demand to decommission and dispose of obsolete vessels is increasing at a pace more rapid than the capacity exists to handle this demand. Certainly, this is true in the U.

In September 1993, as the Secretaries of Defense and Transportation announced a new commercial shipbuilding initiative, the President declared that "[s]hipbuilding is one of the keys to America's national defense, and helping our shipbuilders succeed commercially is an important goal of defense conversion." A cornerstone of the 1993 Shipbuilding Initiative was the revival of the Federal Ship Financing Program (commonly known as the "Title XI Program" because its statutory authority is spelled out under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936). Administered by the Maritime Administration ("MarAd") of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the program has prospered since 1993 under a rigorous review process mandated by the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 ("FCRA").

In 1988, Congress enacted the Abandoned Shipwreck Act (Pub. L. 100-298, 43 U.S.C. §§ 2101-2106), in an effort to give states more authority to protect the historical provenance of abandoned shipwrecks in state waters. It was one of the more controversial laws Congress passed that year because it pitted treasure salvors and divers, on the one hand, against states and historic preservationists on the other. In the end, the states won passage of the legislation, but some twelve years later, the question remains whether the Act has had the intended effect. Two significant decisions since 1988 have called into question the law's stated Congressional policy. First, a description of the Act itself.

Maritime business commerce has changed rapidly over the last decade. In order to stay competitive, companies are increasingly inventing more efficient ways to conduct business. The advent of the Internet has created new tools to negotiate and complete business transactions for all major industries. Electronic commerce ("e-commerce") in particular, is revolutionizing the way industries transact all business. The buzzwords of today's marketplace are speed, accuracy and efficiency. Businesses are turning to the Internet as an outlet to increase sales and market share. A successful transition from paper to electronic business, however, requires a well-established electronic and legal infrastructure in order to succeed.

One of the first important official acts of new U.S. President George W. Bush will be to submit to Congress a budget request for the entire U.S. Government for fiscal year 2002. For Americans with a stake in shipbuilding, a key budgetary concern is the amount of funding that will be requested for the Federal Ship Financing Program administered by the Maritime Administration ("MarAd"). The Program is commonly known as the "Title XI Program" because its statutory authority is spelled out under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936. Well over $5 billion in these loan guarantees have been provided since 1993 by MarAd for a wide range of construction projects, ranging from large cruise ships and double-hulled tankers to fast ferries and a variety of cargo vessels. Further, the six U.S.

Former Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) John E. Graykowski has joined the law firm of Dyer Ellis & Joseph as a shareholder. Since assuming his position with MarAd in 1994, Mr. Graykowski has been principally responsible for the implementation of the National Shipbuilding Initiative, with particular emphasis on the revitalization of the Title XI loan guarantee program, as well as programs related to the inland waterways and the Great Lakes. "We are excited about having John Graykowski join our firm; his addition to Dyer Ellis will further enhance our leading position as advisors to the marine transportation industry," said Patrick Cavanaugh, Managing Shareholder. During his tenure at MarAd, Mr.

On Thursday, November 2, 2000, the U.S. Coast Guard published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding marine casualty reporting requirements. The proposed rule would amend the marine casualty reporting requirements by adding "significant harm to the environment" to the list of reportable marine casualties. This proposed change would implement a change in law enacted as part of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), it would apply to domestic vessels worldwide, to foreign vessels operating in the navigable waters of the United States, and to foreign tank vessels operating in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and other waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.